


the years start coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop

by Jsscshvlr



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Powered MJ, The Author Regrets Nothing, ogres to lovers, they're not ogres please don't be sad, this is a Shrek AU please blame Jill, what are you doing in my swamp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jsscshvlr/pseuds/Jsscshvlr
Summary: “Look - don’t you know who I am?” He bites out in response.“Er - slightly taller than me?”“No! I’m a mutant with powers to climb up walls.” Peter levels him with a look that most people are afraid of but Ned doesn’t seem phased in the slightest.“Like a spider? Dude that is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard! Can you lay eggs?” He replies enthusiastically.“What, no, Ned - I can’t lay eggs.”
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 25
Kudos: 21





	1. she was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coykoi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coykoi/gifts).



> Shrek AU. 
> 
> Blame everything on Jill x (ps happy very late birthday. Can you even remember how I got here? Me either)  
> promptmas: cross country drive - don't @ me

_Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl, the daughter of politicians. One day she was able to stick to walls with her hands and feet and her family thought she was diseased and wicked and didn’t know what any disgruntled enemy would think. So they told the world she had a curse placed upon her and she was locked away in a castle guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. The only way to break the curse was to wait for true love’s first kiss. The daughter grew up believing she was a princess, which is why she was in this grand castle alone. Many brave knights had attempted to free her from this dreadful prison, but none prevailed. She waited in the dragon’s keep in the highest room of the tallest tower for her true love and true love’s first kiss._

“Some -” 

_Like that’s ever gonna happen. What a load of -_

“Body once told me the world was gonna roll me.”

Peter’s woken from his dream by his alarm and he flails looking for his phone as his alarm tone gets louder and louder. It would help if he opened his eyes but he was rather enjoying this silly dream, so he hopes his senses will lead him to the noise.

“I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”

He steps on his phone hearing a crunch, but luckily for him, the alarm stopped going off. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes with heavy palms and sighs as he walks to the bathroom. The apartment is eerily quiet today - usually, he can hear any number of people out in the street talking badly about him and his freaky powers. 

That's why he never tidies up, basically living in a swamp - he tells himself it’s how he likes to live, that the state of his apartment is the only reason he never invites people in. He tries not to delve into the reasoning behind why no-one will talk to him, why everyone thinks he’s some kind of ugly outcast. He’s not bright green! 

He takes a quick cold shower because he’s in his self-loathing stage of the week and the thought of a hot shower has him seething. He needs to leave the house today if he wants to eat later. That means going into a shop because all the local grocery stores refused to deliver to him even if he uses a fake name. 

His phone calendar lights up saying it’s December. His least favourite month of the year if he had to pick. The holiday season makes him feel worse than ever. Sure, he eats all the cheese and the potato latkes and watches every Christmas movie that has the same plot and revolves around the same five white actors - but he never enjoys it. There’s no one to enjoy it with.

He’s so bored of his life here - he kinda wants to go on an adventure. Somewhere far far away so that he can use the powers everyone around here hates him for. Once upon a time, he remembered longing for a partner to spend his life with. Someone that would understand him and love him unconditionally - but since his powers were outed he desperately tries not to think about it. He’s never met anyone since then that even wants to talk to him. 

He throws a jumper on and his web-shooters that he was far too excited that he made himself, only to be shot down when everyone thought he was a freak. Now instead of using them to help people, he usually has to use them to swing away from mobs. 

With his hood pulled so low over his face he makes the short walk to Delmar’s. His senses are always on high alert when he’s outside, ready to leap to his defence if someone so much as looks at him wrong. He likes Delmar’s because the owner doesn’t seem to hate him. He did save his cat for him once so maybe it’s that. Also because he can get there through back alleys that no-one ever walks down.

Before he can make it that far, he hears a yelp and the sound of someone running towards him with at least three people close behind. He lifts his hood enough to see a guy, clearly, a tourist, running from three men, clearly thieves.

“Leave me alone! I don’t have anything you want.” He hears him say out of breath, he’s not going to make it that much further. 

“Wallet, camera, phone. In that order.” The one getting closest to him shouts. 

Don’t get involved, don’t get involved. But as the closest one makes a grab for the friendly, if not out of breath guy, his instincts kick in and he webs his feet to the ground. Running close to where the victim is, grabs him around the waist and _thwips_ to the nearest building. 

The guy is screaming but he doesn’t sound terrified - more excited. That’s mirrored mere seconds later as Peter swings them to another building to find a quiet corner so he can lower them down. 

“Oh my God, this is so fun! How are you doing that?! I’m Ned! What’s your name?” He says utterly screeching, presumably to hear himself over the wind but Peter’s ears are bleeding all the same. 

“You don’t need to shout, Ned.” 

“Sorry!” He shouts in response as Peter finds a dingy alley to stop in. 

“Oh, that was close!” Ned screeches out once they’re on the ground, but he doesn’t make a break for it. 

“Er, yeah - why don’t you go and find your friends?”

“Uh, I don’t have any friends.... Just here by myself.” He looks at the ground for a second and Peter thinks he might be upset at divulging this information but his head snaps up so fast Peter stumbles back somewhat, startled for the first time in years. The jolt makes me start speed walking down the road and Ned half walks half jogs to keep up with him. 

“I could just hang out with you! What are you doing? We could go to the touristy parts of-” he looks up at some derelict buildings and a few alleyways “-wherever we are. Or we could take the underground, sorry, subway, somewhere else -” he moves his camera from around his neck to get the map sticking out of his bumbag, and honestly, could he look more like a tourist? “- I haven’t eaten in-”

“Do you always talk this much?”

“Oh, for sure man. Always got something to talk about. Do you like movies? Star Wars? I can talk about Star Wars all day.” He replies, still following him down the road. 

“Are you lost?” He hisses out at him because the few people around are starting to look in his direction and he figures his save has made the news. 

“Oh, erm - I’m just all alone here. You see… I only got here a few hours ago and was so excited to see Times Square and all the Christmas lights that I forgot to be vigilant -”

“Don’t victim blame, people here won’t like you if you do.”

“Of course, spoken like a true New Yorker!” He enthusiastically replies to Peter’s chagrin.

“Look - don’t you know who I am?” He bites out in response. 

“Er - slightly taller than me?” 

“No! I’m a mutant with powers to climb up walls.” Peter levels him with a look that most people are afraid of but Ned doesn’t seem phased in the slightest. 

“Like a spider? Dude that is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard! Can you lay eggs?” He replies enthusiastically. 

“What, no, Ned - I can’t lay eggs.”

“Aw man, that’s too bad.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be scared right now? Can you see everyone staring at me like they wanna stab me with a pitchfork? Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Nah.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Oh.” He’s a little stunned and doesn’t really know what to do with this information. Just because he’s sure just because he’s not terrified of him doesn’t mean he likes him. 

“Dude, you’re so cool. What’s your name?” 

“Erm, Peter. Look, I’m going home now so - see you around,” Peter says without promise because he’s hopeful to never see him again. Although he does think how if he’d met Ned before his powers and whole life turned to garbage - they would probably be friends. 

“Wait, wait - I don’t. I’m nervous. Where would I go?”

“I dunno dude. There’s -”

“Where are you staying? I could stay with you!” Ned says with far too much excitement for one person.

“Of course!” He says hoping the sarcasm hits right. He doesn’t talk to people often. 

“Really?” Ned says perky and Peter writes learning to interact with humans again on his imaginary list of things to do that he has no intention of completing. 

“What, no - I live in a studio.” He says confused because no one has asked to go to his place since he was sixteen and powerless. 

“A studio! In New York! Awesome man. Please, I don’t wanna go back to wherever that was.”

“Okay! Just one night.” He replies with a sigh. It’s not like Ned could overpower him.

“Yes! Thank you - can we swing there?” Ned asks in a tone that suggests he knows Peter is going to say no. So they both start walking. Ned kindly does the food shop while he hides cowardly behind in the alley. Too many people have looked at him today and his senses are all over the place. 

Ned carries the conversation all the way back to Peter’s which he’s half thankful for and half wishes they could walk in silence. He asks a lot of questions. 

“Can you spit venom?” 

“No.”

“Can you summon an army of spiders?”

“No, Ned.” He could tell him the webs are synthetic and that he made them himself but he’s not sure whether or not he’ll care and his ego can’t take a hit like that. 

“Ohhhh. It’s beautiful here!” Ned says with a light cough as he enters the apartment and immediately goes to throw out week-old takeout. He seems to be looking around either for something else to weakly compliment or to find somewhere clean to sit down. 

“I like that hole in the wall! That is a nice hole in the wall!” Ned says and Peter genuinely can’t tell if he’s being genuine or sarcastic. 

He laughs him off when flipping through the mail he picked up downstairs. Hate mail. A bill. Hate mail. Hate mail. Huh, a letter from Oscorp. Opening the letter he reads something he’s pretty sure he dreamt up yesterday. He must make a weird sound because Ned asks if he’s alright. 

“Yeah - I got this letter from Harry Osborn, he owns this green energy company I think? He wants me to rescue this politician’s daughter. She was kidnapped or something. I thought it was a fairytale kind of thing when I was younger - it was all over the news. Apparently she’s being held captive by a mechanical dragon and no one seems to care or know why.” He says rereading the letter that is asking him to go on a mission to get her. 

“What, a politician’s daughter has been missing for longer than four hours and they haven’t gotten her back? Even though they know where she is? Sounds fishy to me.” And Peter can’t help but agree.

“Is that the guy asking you to go get her?” Ned asks peering over his shoulder to look at the letter that for some reason has a photo of Harry on it. “Looks like a fuck wadd to me.” Ned laughs heartily at his own joke and Peter finds himself joining in. “Oh my God, say it with an accent and it’s so funny. Peter ends up on the floor through laughter as Ned runs around his small studio saying ‘Faaaaar Quad’ in an increasingly higher pitch each time. 

When they’ve both calmed down, Ned asks him more seriously if he’s going to go. 

“Yeah. I mean - she’s trapped and I know how it feels to be alone with only your thoughts and big castle or not, I wouldn’t do that to someone. Plus there’s a reward, right? I could move from here - somewhere where no-one knows who I am.” He says quietly. 

“But you like your swamp.”

“Shut up.” He says but there’s no heat behind it. Not that he’s sure Ned could be scared of him if he tried. 

“Besides - Harry Osborn just wants her safe as well. He has a decent company and I think he’s just trying to do the right thing.” Peter says with confidence - why else would he pay a random weirdo to go and rescue a politician’s daughter?

* * *

_The door slams with a bang behind him. It doesn’t make him jump in the way it used to when his father did it to embarrass him in front of his colleagues. He’s in charge now._

_“You’re a monster.” A random man splutters as his head is pulled out of the large basin of ice-cold water in front of him._

_“Who is she?” One of the guards says with the man’s hair gripped tightly in his hand._

_“I don’t -” he’s cut off as his head is plunged back under water. Arms failing to keep him above the surface._

_“Who is she?”_

_“Michelle -” he coughs out a lungful of water “- Jones. Michelle Jones.”_

_Harry walks over so he’s opposite them both. Pulling a crowbar out of his pocket that he could take this guy's knees off with it he wanted. Violence used to make him feel nauseous, but you see enough things that it becomes second nature. He taps it against the metal container that holds the water making the man in front of him shiver._

_“Why is she important?” He says not looking at him, but paying with the tool like it’s not capable of killing every person in this room._

_“I - erm.”_

_“Have you heard of the muffin man?” Harry says barely withholding a laugh at his guard’s face. Or the shocked face of the man who knows the answers he’s looking for._

_“The… muffin man?” Harry nods at him._

_“No -”_

_“He died in this very room. Wouldn’t tell me what I wanted to know. We call him the muffin man because his face looked like a squashed muffin by the end” He says, his voice as cold as the temperature in this room. He stands and slowly walks around to where the man is shaking with what could be cold or nerves - probably both._

_“Powers. She’s got superpowers!” The man shouts out before Harry can walk the entire way around to him. He’s put out he stood up for nothing, but this information pleases him so the guy can keep his knees today. He’s got a plan to set out._

* * *

“Plus I do have some freaky powers and it doesn’t really matter to anyone if I die.” He says with a self-deprecating laugh.

“I’d care, Peter,” Ned replies and seems to truly mean it. He tries to smile back at him but it’s been such a long time since anyone’s been nice to him - that it can’t trust it’s going to last. 

“Okay - let’s grab some of your clothes and hit the road! Oh, I love it! Like an adventure. Two best pals on the road again - but in a car right? Not swinging through the air? It is December after all.” 

“Yeah, Ned. In a car. You said you had a sat nav!” Peter says as he throws a couple of t-shirts and boxers in a bag and pulls his shoes on. 

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Ned replies excitedly. “Oh hey, can I borrow some clothes? We’re not that similar in size but your clothes drown you so I should be fine and also I don’t have anything with me, so can I borrow some, please? I’ll give you some money or we could stop if you’d prefer? I could go to Target?”

“Ned! Breathe - we’ll stop by a store and grab the essentials. It’s a few days drive I think.” He slams his front door shut forgetting to care about whether or not it’s locked. There’s nothing in there of value - he brought anything worth keeping with him, just in case. 

“Oh good, thanks, man. We should set up a playlist.”

“No,” Peter says with no leeway, he hates singing. 

“Can I whistle?” Ned says unnerved as they both get into the car.

“No.”

“Can I hum it?” And he says it in such a way Peter doesn’t know how to say no.

“Sure,” he says with a slight laugh, “hum it.”

He backs out of his shitty apartment parking lot with more feeling in his heart than he thinks he’s ever had before. And he’s excited, he’s really excited about something for the first time in God knows how long.

As he pulls onto the road, the snow is lightly falling and Ned’s humming is warming his toes much quicker than the heater in his car is - and he can’t help himself but join in.

“My world’s on fire, how about yours? That’s the way I like it and I’ll never get bored.” He mumbles along with Ned, lightly tapping the steering wheel in tune. Looking at Ned in his peripheral vision he can see the brightest smile on his face and he can’t let him down. So when Ned hits the dashboard, with a little too much force for his old car, but he could save him in time anyway so he lets it slide, he decides to hell with it. 

He’s giving everything he’s got to this mission, to this possible friendship, to this song. 

“Hey now, you’re an all-star, get your game on, go play!”


	2. it's a cool place and they say it gets colder

“Maps say it’s up here on the right,” Ned says with a calm voice. 

“I can’t see a sign?” Peter replies frantically. 

“It’s coming up in a little bit.”

“Well, then why have you mentioned it now?!”

“You missed the last three I told you about.”

“The music was too loud…”

“You made me turn the volume down twelve miles ago. But look - that’s it. I told you I’d find it!”

“Thanks, Ned -” Peter says checking his blind spot for the millionth time and turning the corner at no more than seven miles per hour. He may or may not have a license. “That looks like the place.” 

They both have to crane their heads to see the top of the building - unsure of how they haven’t been able to see it the whole way here with how ostentatious it is. The building itself is half reflective glass and half dark grey concrete and Peter is struck with how out of place it looks in the countryside. New York? No problem. Here? Not so much. 

“Right, we just gotta find the way in and honestly - it looks like a dead zone…” Ned says getting out of the car when Peter doesn’t even have it in park yet, “- where is everyone? Does anyone work here? Helllllllo!” Ned shouts. 

“Please, I don’t want any attention - get in get out,” Peter says quickly as he jumps out the car to stand next to Ned. 

“That’s what she said,” Ned replies deadpan - but Peter can see him stifling a smile in his peripheral vision. He rolls his eyes at him but is thankful for his presence here.

After walking the entire perimeter of the building they find a doorway to an almost too bright entrance hall - the lady behind the reception desk says, “floor eight, Mr Osborn is expecting you.” Her smile does not reach her eyes and Peter’s so creeped out by it that he forgets to note he never told her who he was. 

The elevator doors close with a ding and his senses feel like they’re crawling up his spine - like they’re physical beings trying to dig through his skin. There’s an unnerving jingle being played quietly as the elevator moves and he thinks if it weren’t for his heightened hearing he wouldn’t be able to hear it.

_ There are rules here,  _

_ There is nothing to fear,  _

_ Don’t stand out of line,  _

_ And everything will be just fine,  _

_ Oscorp is flawless,  _

_ Just don’t be lawless,  _

_ Oscorp is, Oscorp is,  _

_ Oscorp is a flawless place. _

The feeling does not lessen as they get closer to his office and even Ned seems to sense that something is off. 

The office door swings open as they approach it and the unsettled feeling increases tenfold when he sees Harry sitting behind an ornate desk looking a little green. 

“Mr Parker!” He belts, “Thank you for coming. And this is?” He says with an unfriendly smile. 

“Ned Leeds sir, nice to meet you,” Ned says holding his hand out despite the fact they're a good fifteen metres away from the desk.

“The pleasure is all mine. You can stop.” Harry says. They do. 

Someone throws something towards them and Peter catches it in his hand without looking - it’s just a paper aeroplane. 

“Oh, you are good. Are you happy with the assignment?”

“Yes.” Peter stutters out feeling increasingly more uncomfortable and more like he never wants to return here. 

“You know there’s a dragon? I know some people have died attempting this mission and it’s truly sad. But a risk I’m willing to take. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Right.”

“Splendid! See you in a few days then! Good day.” And then his henchmen come to walk towards them to usher them out of the room.

“Dude -” Ned says when they’re back in the elevator “- could that have not been an email?” 

“I know. Did you get a weird as fuck vibe?”

“I told you, man! Fuck wad.” Ned whispers even though Peter knows it's futile - this whole place is bugged. He’ll be surprised if he makes it back to the car without taking a bullet to the knee. 

The receptionist does not acknowledge them on the way out and the entire walk back to the car he can feel someone watching them - but whenever he turns around he can’t see anything. 

“It’s just, he’s asked me to do this because he thinks I’ll just kill someone if I need to?” Peter spits out while yanking on his seatbelt and then letting out a deep breath when it doesn’t move. 

Ned calmly places his around his body and it slots right in. “That’s not why he asked you. He asked because you’re strong.” Peter huffs at him.

“He asked me because if I die no one will care”

“Let me get this straight. You’re going to go on a six-day round road trip to rescue this girl, to get enough money to move somewhere people can’t find you - because most people are cruel - even though you're lonely?”

“I’m not lonely, Ned.”

“Well -”

“Go back to not talking please.” Peter huffs out when he turns back onto a major road, heading North. Ned is quiet on his phone but he does bring the map up and Peter feels bad.

“Maybe I should just web up everyone that is mean to me.” He says sadly, he knows he’s sulking.

“No, that’s not you.”

“Everybody thinks it is. But there’s more to me than people think - I’m like, I dunno, lasagna.”

“What?”

“You know, like with the layers and the ingredients.”

“It stinks?”

“Yeah! What, no Ned -”

“It goes a weird colour in the sun?” He says looking at the sunburn Peter got on his forearm from letting his arm hang out the window.

“No! Layers! They have layers.”

“Like onions? Not everyone likes lasagna.”

“Oh my, God. Nevermind.” Peter huffs again and turns the volume up slightly.

“Mangoes!” Ned shouts, “Everybody loves mangoes.”

“I think you’re missing the point.”

“Some -”

“Body once told me -” 

“Peter, you know that’s not what I was going for. I’m taking the song off the playlist.” Ned says with a slight huff as he pulls up playlist six of twelve. Peter hums to himself anyway. And then when Ned falls asleep with four hours worth of Peter’s turn on the schedule left to go, if Peter turns the playlist back so he can tap along on the steering wheel, that’s nobody's business but his own. 

They swap driving back and forth and Peter is surprised by how well he can sleep when Ned speeds around corners - but he feels safe in his presence so it’s fine. He refused point-blank to discuss whether or not he was lonely. He knows he is. He knows that Ned knows that. But there’s nothing he can do about it.

The days and nights blend into one and he’s ecstatic to see that they’re near to the site. He’s managed to successfully hit most of the turns when Ned is asleep. So he missed one and had to do a thirty-mile detour, big deal. 

Ned wakes up with a loud yawn as Peter pulls into a viewing section near the cliff where he’s planning on leaving the car.

“Hit the ground running -” Ned says around another yawn. “Sorry I fell, asleep man.”

“No problem, dude. We’re here now - can you grab the supplies?” Peter says as he attempts to back the car around some random large boulders. 

“That is a nice boulder,” Ned says casually.

He parks the car as close to the cliff edge as possible and then backs up considerably because he remembers his geography lessons and if something falls there is no way this car is surviving that. 

“So I can walk us up -” he says as they get closer to the cliff face “- shouldn’t take too long. Or I can walk up and then send webbing down for you.”

“Okay -” Ned lets a pained laugh out beside him “- so not that I’m scared of heights. But, there’s a reason I’m not a bird right?”

“Ned, I’ve got you.”

“You know - what if I stayed out here? You know, it’s not that cold. Us Filipino's like the heat but coldness is like a dream to me.”

“Your teeth are chattering.”

“Are they?” He says with a forced laugh. “Interesting. That is very interesting to me.”

“Hey, you know what is near here? There’s this Star Wars convention like an hour away.” Peter says slowly wrapping webbing around himself and Ned.

“Is there?” Ned immediately perks up. “What’s your favourite film? My favourite is The Empire Strikes Back -”

“Why?” Peter asks knowing that his own is ‘A New Hope’ but he’s already four foot of the ground and he has another thirty to go.

“You see Peter. When Darth tells Luke he is his father I sobbed for days. Truly, days. My Nanay had to make me so many lumpia just to get me to calm down. Honestly, thinking about it chokes me up.”

Peter smiles at the thought while lifting them over the cliff edge.

"Wow pretty view from up here -” Ned says casually before turning ridged, “What?! How did we how did I-”

Peter rips the webbing from them both and taps Ned on the shoulder giving him a bright smile,

“That’ll do, Leeds. That’ll do.” 

The castle or holding centre or whatever the media calls it is beautiful. Not that, that means she wants to be trapped here. He’s still not entirely sure why she is trapped here - if he and Ned managed to get here in days and sure, the wall-crawling helped him get up the cliff edge but honestly, people have helicopters. 

He tries not to think about why her parents haven’t tried harder to save her when he walks in the castle grounds with Ned talking about Star Wars at his side. Entering a large courtyard that’s full of wildflowers and at least eight different stairways to different towers - isn't she supposed to be in one that is immediately recognisable? 

“Not to alarm you but the mechanical dragon was not a lie. So - ermm there’s that.” The dragon in question stomps out from behind a particularly wide pillar, and yes - does look terrifying. Peter cannot immediately tell how it operates or how to take it down, but they also haven’t been attacked yet.

“Ned, just get to the corner and I’ll deal with it okay. It’s just machinery we can take out.” 

The dragon growls in a way that suggests it can hear them and Ned squeals and Peter whimpers ever so slightly. 

“You know I don’t think the dragon is stupid -” Ned starts and the dragon cocks it’s head at him. “A smart dragon, oh sure! I mean, of course, you’re smart! I bet you read all the time and you've spent so long protecting the girl -” he winces when the dragon looks unimpressed “- the woman. Michelle! You’ve protected Michelle all these years so you must be brave as well.” 

“Go. I got this.” Ned says calmly. 

“You know that’s a mechanical dragon, Ned?!” Peter screams over said dragon releasing a guttural growl. What, no fire? Amateurs. The dragon lays down in front of Ned so Peter assumes he’s going to be fine - there’s not even fire! And runs to search for Michelle.

It doesn’t take long to find - although there are plenty of empty rooms - he can hear her breathing from a mile away. Her door is locked which he finds bizarre because it’s only her and the dragon and the dragon can’t fit through the hallways. How is that thing controlled anyway?

He attempts to knock it down with his shoulder and hits the floor in the hallway grasping his side in pain.

“Fuck.”

He could try it with his leg and hope his knee doesn’t dislocate - he takes a running jump and just as his foot goes to connect the door swings open. He once again finds himself on the floor. 

“You could try knocking.” A voice comes from behind him and he springs into a defensive crouch. It’s empty - which can’t be true because someone just spoke to him and he can sense someone else here. He can hear them breathing, he can feel their presence so where are they? 

“I’m - here to help you.” He whispers out.

“I don’t need help.” His head whips around and he can’t see anyone.

“Erm - you’ve been locked in a tower for like - a while now?” He questions because he gets it - if you’re relatively safe why on earth would you want to leave? 

He feels a kick to his back and usually that wouldn't be enough to get him to the ground but whoever attacked him is strong. Maybe stronger than he is. It occurs to him as he’s flipped over and he feels someone hold his arms down that he may have been set up by Osborn. But then she comes into view. 

It happens slowly, then all at once. Her legs come into view first, her knees pressed into his arms to keep him down - which means her ass is holding his chest down. It’s an interesting thought, one that makes him attempt to clear his throat. 

She’s devastatingly beautiful, which as she has her arm pressed against his windpipe probably shouldn't have been the first thing he thought. Maybe he should be thinking about how she's invisible and extremely powered. But sue him. 

“Hi.” He chokes out, pacing his arms on her forearms. “Can you - let go?”

“No. What do you want?” He notes that her voice is calm but he can feel the fear radiating off her in waves. 

“I was sent to come to get you out of here, you’re parents miss you and -”

“No, they don’t.” She says lessening the pressure on his throat. 

“They do, they -”

“They’re politicians. You don’t think they would be able to get me out?”

“But the dragon.”

“Betty.” She says casually. 

“Betty?” 

“Yeah. She’s my oldest friend.” He thinks that's sad but hopes the pity doesn't show on his face.

“But she stops people from rescuing you? I saw the evidence. People keep trying to save you.”

“Please. She’s protecting me.”

“From what?” And she disappears on top of him, but he can still feel her. And then she comes back. “So I’m not going with you. I don’t know what they want but if it’s anything like what happened before I was locked up here I don’t want that. I can’t do that again.” And then pain in her eyes hits him so violently that he doesn’t know what to say. 

“But -”

She flips from his body and he immediately misses her weight - but that bares in comparison to seeing her upside down on the ceiling, holding on by her toes and fingertips. And then it clicks. He’s annoyed it took him so long when her life mirrors his so similarly. He’s not here to save her. He’s here to take her to them.

“Oh.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Truly, I don't know x
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr: i-lovethatforme


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